Select one individual who was exonerated by DNA evidence that you would like to research. Relate to how the criminal justice system failed this individual. Do you believe this individual was convicted based on systematic discrimination or was in contextual in nature? Argue your case and try to explain what went wrong. In arguing your case, you need to explain the details of the person you chose- you may want to look at where in the CJ system failed the individual (ex: bad police practice, bias, jury selection, eye witness ID, etc.) Explain if you feel the failure in the CJ system is systematic, institutionalized, contextual, an individual act of discrimination or that there was no racial or ethic discrimination, also known as pure justice. Some of the questions you may want to ask yourself are: Have reforms been enacted as a result of this injustice? How has this injustice impacted the CJ system? What could have been done to better ensure that an innocent person would not be wrongfully accused:
● how much time in jail or awaiting trial? ● age at time of conviction? ● race of defendant, race of victim? ● how long spent in prison? ● were they serving on death row? ● what was the crime they were convicted for? ● how many times were they denied parole? ● how were they convicted? ex: eyewitness ID, etc ● what was the race of the victim and do you believe it played a role? ● were there witnesses to the crime? ● was forensic science used? ● was there a confession, admission or a guilty plea?
● is there any type of disability/ mental illness involved? ● was the defendant indigent- was their lawyer private or public? ● was there a use of informants? ● after release- was there some type of compensatory award? ● did the accused receive a monetary award and was it appropriate for time spent in prison? ● was the true perpetrator of the crime ever identified?